# Dorcas

*The Urth list — 3 messages, 2 voices, 08 Apr 1999*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1497>

> Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright
> in each message remains with the person who wrote it.
> Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original
> archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than
> retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.

---

### Clifford Drane
*08 Apr 1999, 04:10*

> I wrote:
> Also, has Dorcas as a parallel to the Lady of the Lake been 
> mentioned before? Severian grasps both her hand and the sword at the 
> same time, almost like she gave it to him. Any thoughts about that?

Yikes. I just read the Lexicon Urthus entry about Terminus Est. Guess 
that idea had been bandied about before.

Also, to continue my ruminations about Dorcas being in stasis or 
actually dead, 'Charon' tells the group that "the water... pickles 
them." I guess that could mean it acts like formaldehyde (nothing 
could survive in that!) and simply preserves bodies. But the eyes 
popping open remark seems very important. Either she was so ill she 
was submerged by mistake, and the shock of the water woke her (then 
she drowned), or she was dumped by 'Charon'. It's also mentioned that 
bodies are weighed down with lead shot in the stomach, and the eyes 
glued shut. Dorcas never complained of being unusually heavy, and 
obviously her eyes weren't cememented shut. So, I guess her being in 
the lake IS indicative of foul play. How tragic. And 'Charon' seems 
full of remorse. What a beautiful little tragedy, one of many in 
TBOTNS.

Interestingly, it was pointed out to me today on the racquetball 
court by a friend who's reading TBOTNS (he just finished Shadow), 
that Dorcas, just after being resurrected, follows Severian like a 
dog (parallel to Triskele).

ccd

---

### Roy C. Lackey
*08 Apr 1999, 01:27 · follows Clifford Drane*

>> On Wed, 07 Apr 1999 14:18:59 CDT Cliff Drane wrote:
>> Also, has Dorcas as a parallel to the Lady of the Lake been mentioned
>> before? Severian grasps both her hand and the sword at the same time,
>> almost like she gave it to him. Any thoughts about that?<<

    She not only grasps his hand, she is pulling him _down_. Next thing we
know, he is near-drowned at the edge of the water, with barely enough
strength to save his sword. Dorcas is already out of the water and helps him
to safety. When Sev raises the dead it always weakens him, and the
newly-risen dead are always befuddled. So what happened between chapters,
when they were both underwater?

On Wed, 07 Apr 1999 23:10:35 CDT he also wrote:

<snip>

>> It's also mentioned that

bodies are weighed down with lead shot in the stomach, and the eyes
glued shut. Dorcas never complained of being unusually heavy, and
obviously her eyes weren't cememented shut. So, I guess her being in
the lake IS indicative of foul play. How tragic. And 'Charon' seems
full of remorse. What a beautiful little tragedy, one of many in TBOTNS.<<

    She regurgitated some of the lead weights on the night she and Sev
parted ways in Thrax.


Roy

---

### Clifford Drane
*08 Apr 1999, 13:29 · follows Roy C. Lackey*

> Roy wrote:
> She regurgitated some of the lead weights on the night she and Sev
> parted ways in Thrax.

I guess I should do my homework. :)

cd

---